A simple game of Basketball
by Psycheclone
Summary: Matt's crush on Parappa seems to not be as secretive as he may want it to be, but he can't find it in himself to make a move. With a little push forward, can he ask what he needs to during a 'simple' game of Basketball? Or will the opportunity bounce away?


It was a typical day for everyone as they all went about their daily routine in the bright beating sun. Everyone was beaming as brightly as they ran around having the time of their lives...except for one boy.

"Oh man...what was I thinking...letting PJ talk me into this…" Matt paces in place as he stands alone in an empty basketball court "I can't go through with this…" Matt simply taps his head aggressively, remembering what had happened not to long prior.

" _Matt."_

" _Not now PJ I'm busy…"_ Matt scribbles down more words in his notebook, trying to ignore his pestering friend.

" _Matt."_

" _Not gonna answer…"_

" _Matt."_ PJ stands in front of Matt, completely ignoring his attempts to deny him attention.

" _W-Whoa! G-Get out of my face man!...Alright fine, what is it…?"_

" _Did you tell Parappa yet?"_

" _...Tell him what?..."_

" _You can't play dumb forever you know, I'm more aware of my surroundings than you think."_

" _...I have no idea what you're talking about!"_ PJ grabs his notebook and quickly holds it up, on the page is simply a bunch of pictures of Parappa with hearts around them. Matt's only reaction is to snatch it out of his hands " _H-HEY WATCH IT!..."_ He drags PJ close and whispers to him " _Don't hold it up! Who knows who'd see it!..."_

PJ rolls his eyes before standing back upright " _You say that is if people already didn't catch on by themselves already."_

" _W-What?...Y-You're joking!...Please be joking…"_

" _No they probably don't know, but given how you are with your, not so subtle notions, I wouldn't be surprised if they did."_ A twinkle appears at the the corner of his eyes " _Don't you think that you should make a move before the rumors actually DO begin?"_

" _I can't do that!..."_ He slams his head on the desk " _It's not that simple...besides I see him with Sunny like...a hundred percent of the time so...why bother?"_

" _You give up to quickly."_

" _I'm a realist! They clearly have something going on between them…"_

" _Have you, ya know, ASKED?"_

" _You don't just walk up to someone and ask if they're DATING the person they're next to!"_

" _What you're doing isn't exactly different. You're basically assuming that, just because people are next to each other for whatever reason, are just dating!"_

" _But that usually does mean SOMETHINGS there between them…"_

" _And you would never know unless you asked! I think you're just making it seem as if there's no chance."_

" _Even if there was I can't exactly just blurt it out to him…for all I know he's probably not like that…"_

" _Well I can't argue with THAT, but it's better to ask than do nothing. Closure is better than living with anxiety for the rest of your life over not asking."_ He pats him on the shoulder " _Trust me man, you're a best friend of mine. I wouldn't be saying any of this if I didn't care for your state in the long run."_

" _I know...but...what do I do?...It's just...hard…"_

" _I'm not denying that, but I do have something to get the nerves going. Just set up an occasion where you're comfortable enough to ask."_

" _And that is?..."_

" _A game of Basketball."_

" _What?"_

" _Think about it, it's how you two were introduced and from that point on, you two did nothing but pal around over it whenever you had the free time."_

" _...I don't know."_

" _Trust me, I'll set up something to give you a start, the rest is up to you!"_

Matt sighs once he finishes remembering the who ordeal "The rest is up to me...yeah good motivation…" he bounces the ball in place "With help like this, I may have well just asked Paula for support and get the same result…" He wants to whine from self pity, but before he can do so, he hears a voice that causes him to internally panic.

"Oh you're already here! Sorry I took so long man!" It was Parappa who had just arrived, running and waving "Kinda got sidetracked with uh...personal stuff."

"O-Oh that's no biggie man!...H-Haha things of that sort always take priority! Why if you need to do something else rather than be here, then that's fine! We could reschedule this!" _To probably never hopefully..._

"You kidding? I'd never miss out on this! We rarely had the time to play ball anymore these days. So first to score wins the game like usual?"

"Y-Yeah just like the usual! And w-well I mean that's to be expected! You ended up being quite the hit in rapping and hip hop scene after all. Not to mention being the town hero after the whole noodle thing also gave you a popularity spike…" _Makes me feel like you're on a whole other level now, one that I just can't compare to…_

"Well yeah if you wanna go to that extent, but really I just wanna keep things simple with you guys! Like how we always usually did." He rubs the back of his head as he sticks his tongue out "Of course that's not as easy to do, what with Katy now bein apart of the superband MilkCan! Can't say i'm upset though since it's all so amazing! I'm so happy for her and the things she achieved!"

"You say that as if you yourself didn't achieve anything."

"Matt, let's be real. I can't really compare. Look at their drummer Ma-san! Or their lead guitarist Lammy! Both those gals alone shoot farther than my streak. Especially Lammy. I heard she went to hell and back just to get to their first live concert! And me? Just sang here and there, saved the town from some noodle threat, got a party. Really now I feel like I didn't deserve it. I didn't do much!"

Matt huffs in annoyance as his chest puffs up "Well don't just berate yourself! What you've done is plenty special! If others can't see, well then forget them! I'd say you're on a level as equal to the three of them if not greater!" Matt keeps his nose held to the air until he realizes he just spoke abruptly in a soapbox moment "A-Ahah...of course, you ARE their equal! They even invited you to sing with em from time to time remember? 'All we need is music' was one heck of a song. Of course when you take two of the town's greatest singers in one song together, what's not to like?"

"Oh come on man I'm not THAT good…"

"You are! How can you say you aren't, when you have a person who can hear for themselves, tell you otherwise?"

"Eh...I don't really know...I just feel like I don't really have much of anything thanks to someone in particular…"

Matt's left ear and eye twitches as Parappa says this with a slight sour tone finding its way into his voice "What do you mean?...Someone's not messing with you right? I swear if someone's hurting my pal, be it physically or emotionally, I'll just-" Matt starts squeezing the basketball greatly, to a point it's almost about to burst.

"No man it's not like that!...It's...uh...a different type of deal altogether…"

"O-Oh…" Matt stops squeezing the ball, this causes it to slip out of his hands and hit it straight in the face, the ball rebounds and flies off "DOH…" Matt falls over onto the ground, clutching his face.

"M-MATT!" Parappa wastes no time in helping him up "D-Dude you ok?!"

"Owowow...i'm fine...sorry about that…"

"No man it's fine! I'm just worried if you're alright is all!"

"I am...just...let's play ball…"

Parappa rears back and points towards a specific direction "Uh...about that…" Both of the dog teens watch as the ball bounces its way onto the street, as it bounces onto the road, a random truck drives by, launching the ball down the street.

"...We better run after that…"

"Yeah I agree…" The both panic and run off after the ball.

The duo chase the freeflying ball as it flies and rebounds all over the place, the random passerbys screaming as they struggle to avoid being hit by it.

"How are we gonna catch it at this rate?"

"Better to try than to just let it hit innocent people Matt!"

"I know!...come on we gotta get ahead of it!"

"I parked nearby! We'll use the car to catch up to it!" Parappa stops and does a quick one eighty as he runs the opposite direction with Matt right behind him. They quickly arrive at the car and waste no time hopping in and driving off, the chase begins anew as they try and pass the ball.

"So what exactly do we do once we pass the ball…?"

"I figured if we cut it off, we can open the door and catch it in here!"

"But won't your dad freak if we damage the car?"

Parappa shudders before recovering and shaking his head "You let me deal with that when it gets to it. For now let's just try to even achieve the plan in general!"

"Right!" _Man to think this all started just because I wanted to ask a guy out...am I cursed?_ Matt sighs to himself as Parappa steps on the gas. After a bit they finally pass the ball "Alright Parappa just take a left here and open the door!"

"Roger that!" Parappa takes a mini turn as he opens his door, the ball however does not simply stay incased. It instead slams into Parappa as he flies out the other door WITH the ball "THIS WAS A MISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE…."

"P-PARAPPA!..." Matt immediately slides into the driver's seat and drives after the ball AND Parappa "Oh man oh man oh man...This is NOT where I thought this day would go…but I can't think on that now! I gotta help him! That should take top priority!" Matt zooms down the street in an attempt to catch Parappa. The balls starts rebounding it's way everywhere leading Matt on a wild chase, luckily the ball itself took all the impacts as Parappa stayed unscathed.

"HEEEEEEEEELP…"

"I'M TRYING! Where the heck is it going?...I'll never catch up at this rate!…unless." Matt parks the car and immediately begins running in a direction away from the ball.

"H-HEY DON'T LEAVE ME!...MATT HELP!..." Parappa closes his eyes in fear of what'll happen if he stays latched onto the ball. He still won't let go for another fear of hitting the ground, rather hard. Needless to say, his options were very limited and non to appealing. _If you got a plan Matt, I hope you do it quick and that it works…_

"Come on come on...if i'm correct...it'll bounce…over there!..." Matt runs up and climbs on top of a street light "And now...here he comes!" Matt holds his arms out. _This better work..._

Parappa whimpers as he stays on the hellish ride the ball is taking him for until he hears Matt's voice, immediately prompting him to look for where he was.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT PARAPPA!"

"I'D RATHER AVOID ANY AND ALL IMPACT THANK YOU!..."

"TRUST ME!"

Parappa closes his eyes and simply does as told, seeing as he has no better option, and in that moment he slams into something that also gets taken with the ball. When he opens his eyes to check it out, he sees Matt latching on with him "T-This was your idea?!"

"Yes!...If i'm right...hopefully i'm right...our added inertia will add friction to the ball, making it stop and drop!..."

"But what about us?..."

"...I...did not think that far ahead…" The ball soon begins to slow its airtime "Uh oh…"

Both begin holding onto the ball and themselves as they scream. They keep screaming as their motion in the air starts dropping "W-We probably won't hit the ground t-that hard!...right?..."

"I-I refuse to look down…oh I'm gonna regret this..." he looks down and immediately shuts his eyes "I WAS RIGHT TO NOT WANNA LOOK!..."

"Ok...i'm just trying to grasp at positives...um…"

"Here let me try...at best we'll end up in the hospital...totally not gonna die from going splat hard onto the ground…"

"Eheh...yeah that...might make it hard to look at the positives…"

Matt shudders as he speaks back up "I'm sorry Parappa...this is mostly my fault…"

"So you lost track of the ball...that's not your fault...you were just uh…"

"Defensive for lack of a better word?"

"Yeah I guess that fits...but hey you were just looking out for me after I said someone was getting to me…"

"...Mind telling me who they are and what they did...as we slowly fall to our doom?..."

"...The person…" Parappa sighs as his grip on Matt tightens up "Is...actually you…"

"W-Whoa whoa whoa! What did I do?" Matt nearly pushes himself off the ball from the shock.

"Nonono!...It's...argh…" Parappa manages to use one of his hands to cover his face with his beanie, after a good few seconds of silence, he speaks up albeit muffled "mm hrth…"

"Your...what?..." Matt stares at the covered face of his friend.

"Mi hert…"

"I...still can't...understand…"

Parappa abrasively lifts his hat as he shouts the answer "MY HEART!..." Parappa's face was glowing red "I...I like you man...as in...LIKE like you…"

Matt's heart stopped "You...do?..."

"Yeah...I've...been liking you since as long as I can remember...but I could never bring myself to ask...there was always many things constantly stopping me…'He just views me as a friend.', 'He's not into that like how I am.', 'He's clearly with Paula.'...All of that just kept me thinking that it wasn't possible...And that made me feel inferior...like I didn't really have a lot going for me."

Matt stayed silent, just listening to everything. _T-This is a joke right...it has to be a joke...but it's not...he's speaking to me and it's like I'm listening to myself…_ "I felt the same…"

"Yeah I figure- Wait...WHAT?!"

"Heh...yeah...a little bit after since the time we met...I just...fell for you...fell for you like a meteor...and it hurt with the impact...of thinking…'Hey...this is all for nothing you know? He's clearly with Sunny…' "

Parappa stays stunned before laughing "T-This is unbelievable! You're messing with me!"

"Nope...that's why I invited you over to a game of ball...well...it was PJ's idea...he told me he'd set up a basketball game between us and wanted me to carry it on from there...but I really couldn't manage anything...and then you told me all that and I just got defensive...you were as great as all the rest...because to me you're BETTER than everyone...is it bias? I dunno, but I was willing to defend that ideal of mine...and when you told me that someone was messing with you...man I just wanted to...to...give them a stern talking to then slink away in fear of my own well being!..." Matt sighs "Man I can not be trusted to be of help against bullies…but that aside...I couldn't even PLAY basketball with you, let alone pop the question,...we just ended up chasing a wild ball...and now here we are clinging onto it for dear life as we fall to our young demise..." Matt simply stays downtrodden with a weakened huff escaping his mouth.

"For what it's worth...would you say yes?..." Parappa looks at Matt with a mixture of sadness, relief and confusion. Matt looks back with the same mixture.

"Would you?..." the only reply Matt receives was a nod, to which he nods back. Both their faces red with a slight smile trying to form on their mouths "This would be so nice...were it not for...you know...the inevitable outcome…"

"Yeah...hey wait...what's that in the distance?..." Parappa looks to where they're at and sees that they've rebounded back to the basketball court, immediately something comes to mind. With that, he throws what remaining caution they had left out the window "...Here goes nothing…"

"P-Parappa what are you doing?..."

He clutches the descending ball with one hand as he holds onto Matt with the other arm, afterwards he motions the ball to fall right through the basketball hoop, slam dunking it right in as he holds onto the rim of the hoop "SWISH!" After this happens, the two simply stay in silence within each others embrace as the hang onto the rim and net of the hoop. Matt finally musters up the ability to speak again.

"Heh...guess you win this game man…~" Matt looks at Parappa face to face, their eyes simply sparkling in each other's gaze.

"Yeah…" He hugs Matt more tightly as they rest their foreheads on each other "I guess I did win~..."

The duo stay within each others embrace until Matt once again brings up something "So...we gonna slide down the pole to get down yet or?..."

"If you don't mind...I rather stay like this for a little bit...it just feels magical you know…"

"Alright...just hope our grips on this thing can hold…"

They eventually slide down to safety as they call it a day with the game seeing as it was technically over, and the fact that both Matt and Parappa asked what they wanted to say.

"So Matt, since we're now outta harms way...what happens to us now?"

"Well...I said what I wanted to and got my answer...but what about you?..."

"Same here, I said what I've wanted to and GOT my answer as well. Soooo...are...we a couple now?..."

"I sure as heck wouldn't mind~..."

"Same here...man I can't believe Katy's and Sunny's idea worked…"

"What?"

"Well just like you and PJ apparently, Katy and Sunny were my wingwoman in helping me find the courage within me to get the ability to ask you. They wanted to set a game between us...but do you think they were all in on it?..."

"I...wouldn't be surprised…" Matt sighs as he pieces it all together "Thinking about it, maybe everyone BUT us knew about it...For all we know, maybe even the BALL was in on it…" Matt kicks the ball as it bounces off the wall and aims itself for his face again, to which Parappa stops by catching it in his hands.

"Maybe, but I rather not go through that mess of a chase again. Especially now that I'm with you. Don't wanna end up having to spend my time in the hospital bed, when I can rather spend it by being right beside you." He smiles with such a bright energy, it becomes so uplifting to look at.

"Heh...likewise." Both of them simply sit down and look up at the sky, as their fingers interlock with each other "That being said...wanna play again tomorrow?~"


End file.
